Ali Khamenei

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ali Khamenei

• Ali Khamenei was born into a religious family. His father was an Alim. Their house was in a poor neighbourhood and measured only 65 square meters.

  

• He was a cleric then but had more interest in politics than religion.

• When he was 13 years old, he met famous Islamic revolutionary Sayyid Mojtaba Navab Safavi (Mirlohi) in Mashhad which made him interested in revolution.

• In 1957, he went to Najaf, Iraq, to study. When he heard the news that his father had lost vision in one eye and couldn’t study properly, he returned to Mashhad.

  

• In January 1964, Khamenei was arrested first time by SAVAK, then Iran’s intelligence agency, and taken to Theran where he was in solitary confinement for 2 months.

  

• In 1975, SAVAK arrested him for the 6th and final time and confiscated his books and notes. He was freed months later.

• In 1976, he was sentenced to exile for 3 years but returned to Iran in 1978.

  

• Khamenei led the 1979 Iranian Revolution that ended by overthrowing Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran.

  

• Since 14 April 1979, he has been the head of servants of Astan Quds Razavi.

• On 27 June 1981, he survived an assassination attempt by Mujahedin-e Khalq. It was Saturday, and he had gone to Aboozar Mosque. After giving his lecture to young people, he asked them to write their questions on paper and put them on a table.

• One person kept a tape recorder on the table which made a whistling sound for a few seconds and then exploded. Inside the recorder, a message ‘A gift of Furqan Group to the Islamic Republic’ was pasted.

• His arms, lungs, and vocal cords were seriously injured. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where he was treated for several months. But his right arm didn’t recover and became useless for him. Due to this, he uses his left arm for everything.

  

• In October 1981, he became the President of Iran for the first time with a 97% vote in his favour. He was the first cleric to reach the position.

• He has a liking for poetry and literature. When he lived in Mashhad during his early years, he often used to visit the literary meetings and used to criticise the poems being recited.

• In his first Presidential address, he said that he would eliminate liberalism and American leftists from the country.

• On 4 June 1989, he succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader of Iran. Though many grand ayatollahs opposed his appointment as he was not a marja or ayatollah, the assembly of experts altered their constitution for him.

• The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom made him the new marja in 1994.

• Over time, he became a key figure in all important Iranian organizations, governmental or private.

  

• In 1996, he issued a fatwa to ban teaching music in the state-run schools, claiming it was against Islam.

• In 1999, he permitted the use of third parties (donor sperm, ova or surrogacy) in fertility treatments and issued a fatwa. He ruled in 2002 that Islam allows stem cell research for creating body parts unless a full body is made using it.

• In 2005, he made headlines all over the world when he issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, forbidding its production, stockpiling, and use. In 2010, the fatwa was updated and titled ‘Prohibition of Weapons of Mass Destruction.’

• However, he did mention that Iran was free and willing to develop nuclear technology for civil purposes as the country cannot depend on oil forever.

• In 2007, he started a privatization drive for all state-run companies which included 3 banks, 1 telecommunications company, and many oil and petrochemical organizations.

• There have been many controversies regarding Khamenei’s net worth. In 2013, the British news agency Reuters claimed that he controlled a US $95 billion fund of ‘Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam’ or ‘Setad’ for his expenses.

• According to Reuters, he used the money for his Beit Rahbari compound which has more than 500 stewards.

• The Iranian officials claim those claims were bogus, and Setad works exclusively for charity in the education, healthcare, and housing sectors.

• On 9 September 2014, he underwent a prostate surgery.

• In 2017, he banned women in the country from riding bicycles in public by issuing a fatwa against it.

• Ali Khamenei has very strict rules about Iran’s foreign policy. Anyone who wants to meet him must travel to Iran; he does not travel outside the country.

  

• In September 2022, he underwent surgery for bowel obstruction.

• He is known for writing several open letters to Iranian people and supporters across the world. On 30 May 2024, he wrote a letter to students across the USA protesting Israel’s military action against Hamas in Palestine and showed solidarity with them.

• Khamenei has been accused of orchestrating the killings of more than 160 defectors. He has refuted those claims, calling such rumours a propaganda against him.

• There have been many protests including the 1999 Iranian Student protests and 2022 Mahsa Amini protests during his 3-decades long rule as Supreme Leader of Iran.

• Many people accused of Baháʼí faith have been his opponents, and he has passed legislation against them to lower their influence.

• Several people have been jailed in Iran for criticizing Khamenei. In 1996, a journalist named Abbas Maroufi was jailed, banned from working as a news reporter, his literary monthly Gardoon was closed, and sentenced to 35 lashes and 6 months imprisonment.

• He is a vocal critic of LGBTQ+ and has often criticized them.

• He is known for his anti-western and anti-zionist stance, particularly against the USA and Israel.

• Ali Khamenei has written many books including The Charter of Freedom and Honest Leader.

• With a 35-year reign as Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei is the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East. He is also the commander of the chief of Iran’s armed forces.

• In November 2024, news began circulating that he had fallen severely ill, amidst the Iran-Israel conflict, and that the Iranian government’s senior leaders had selected a candidate suitable to replace him. The reports also claimed that he had slipped into a coma.